Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation busted a plot by right-wing militia members to kidnap a Democratic governor. Who ever could have inspired them? Any guesses?

Meanwhile, medical workers around the country are at their wits’ end with coronavirus conspiracy theorists. Again, I ask you, where are people getting such crazy ideas?

And lastly, Donald Trump – you remember him – says he won’t participate in any online debates. As a result, Joe Biden is all set to get some free network airtime.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

They wanted to ignite a civil war and bring about societal collapse. Instead, they’re headed to federal prison, possibly for the rest of their lives. Federal agents yesterday charged six men in an outrageous plot to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, and put her on trial for treason. Seven more men – members of a right-wing militia called the Wolverine Watchmen – caught state charges in a related conspiracy.

Federal agents allege the conspirators twice conducted surveillance at Whitmer's personal vacation home in northern Michigan. The Detroit News reports that through confidential sources, undercover agents and clandestine recordings, federal agents tracked the six men during their planning to kidnap Whitmer as they communicated over encrypted messaging platforms using code words and phrases in an attempt to avoid detection by law enforcement. The group also allegedly participated in field exercises that included detonating an improvised explosive wrapped in shrapnel to test its capabilities.

The FBI and state police arrested several of the conspirators when they were meeting on the east side of the state to pool funds for explosives and exchange tactical gear, the News reports. The federal investigation dates to early 2020 when the FBI learned through social media that individuals were discussing the violent overthrow of several state governments. According to the FBI, the group talked about creating a society that followed the US Bill of Rights where they could be self-sufficient.

Addressing the foiled plot, Whitmer said QUOTE I knew this job would be hard. But I’ll be honest, I never could have imagined anything like this ENDQUOTE. She also suggested Trump’s rhetoric made him effectively complicit. Joe Biden echoed that idea, asking QUOTE Why can’t the president just say stop, stop, stop, stop? ENDQUOTE. Trump campaign official Jason Miller on Fox News yesterday attacked Whitmer, saying she wakes up everyday with hatred in her heart towards Trump. Back in April, when armed right-wing militia took over the state capitol of Lansing, Trump tweeted liberate Michigan. I guess people were listening.

Coronavirus disinformation frustrates doctors

Doctors and nurses across the country are frustrated and overwhelmed by members of the public who’ve swallowed various conspiracy theories about the coronavirus. It’s a problem that many worry will get even worse now that Trump is promoting the experimental treatment he received at Walter Reed hospital as another miracle cure, and telling people not to be afraid of the virus.

Nurse Amelia Montgomery of Springfield, Missouri, shared her frustrations with the Associated Press. She complained that some people demand the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and think the only patients who get really sick have underlying health problems. To be clear: that isn’t true. Doctor Jay W. Lee, a family physician in Orange County, California, recalled a patient who demanded QUOTE the largest hydroxychloroquine prescription you can give me ENDQUOTE.

The problem is pronounced in red states, the AP reports. In Iowa, home health nurse Lisa Dockery was fired from her job caring for a boy with severe disabilities after arguing with his parents, who said Covid-19 is a hoax. The argument started because the parents refused to wear masks, even though she told them their son’s life was in danger because he has respiratory problems, relies on tube feedings and cannot walk. The case ended with a judge ordering her former employer to pay her unemployment.

In Georgia, at Augusta University Medical Center, visitors have tried to get around the mask requirement by wearing face coverings made of fishnet and other material with visible holes. The hospital calls this malicious compliance. People also have shown up with video cameras in an attempt to collect proof the virus is a hoax. Doctor Phillip Coule, chief medical officer at the Augusta health system, contracted the virus in July and has seen two staff members die.

He said he fears people may draw the wrong lesson about the seriousness of the disease from what happened to Trump, and may extrapolate that the risk for a seventy four-year-old is low when the opposite is true. As another doctor put it, per the AP, it’s an info-demic as well as a pandemic. And, as with his rhetoric encouraging violent right-wing extremism, it’s a problem Trump could put a stop to, if only he wanted to.

Biden gains free airtime

The next presidential debate was scheduled for next Thursday, October 15th, in Miami, Florida. Now it’s not clear whether the debate will be happening at all. The Commission on Presidential Debates, which organizes the events, said it would change course and hold the second debate remotely in order to protect the health and safety of all involved. In response, Trump yesterday morning told Fox News QUOTE I'm not going to waste my time on a virtual debate... they cut you off whenever they want ENDQUOTE. Someone is cranky about being asked to follow the rules!

In turn, Joe Biden’s campaign said the event should be pushed back to October 22nd, so that the president is not able to evade accountability. The Trump campaign seemed open to that idea, but then wanted to schedule a third debate for October 29th – five days before the election – which the Biden campaign rejected.

With all this back-and-forth going on, ABC News scheduled a town hall with Biden, moderated by the anchor George Stephanopoulos, on October 15th, the night the second debate was set to take place. Producers at ABC News reportedly finalized plans for the Biden town hall yesterday after Trump withdrew from the debate. So as of now, Trump’s refusal to play by the rules has resulted in significant free airtime for Biden. The Democratic candidate observed yesterday that Trump QUOTE changes his mind every second ENDQUOTE. Yup, and at this stage of the presidential race, Trump’s indecision clearly works to Biden’s advantage.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

Police in Portland, Oregon, targeted street medics with teargas and projectiles during summer protests, in what a new report by Physicians for Human Rights calls indiscriminate attacks. The Guardian says the human rights group found a pattern of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment from Portland police and federal agents, violating several international compacts on the use of force, and arguably constituting torture. The police offered no substantive reponse. Actions speak louder, anyway.

Hurricane Delta is set to make landfall in Louisiana today not far from where Hurricane Laura hit in late August. Delta is the tenth named storm of the season – that’s a new record for a single year. More than a dozen Louisiana cities and parishes called on residents to evacuate. Take care out there.

Prominent Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy has been charged in an illegal lobbying campaign aimed at getting the Trump administration to drop an investigation into the multibillion-dollar looting of a Malaysian state investment fund, the AP reports. He was working on behalf of a fugitive Malaysian financier, Jho Low, and sought to arrange meetings with both Trump and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Broidy faces a single conspiracy charge related to his failure to register as a foreign agent. Oopsie!

NBC News reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to introduce legislation today that would create a Commission on Presidential Capacity, which would be involved in presidential transfer of power procedures under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution. Pelosi will hold a news conference on the bill with Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland this morning. Intriguing...

That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report.

Oct 9, 2020 - AM Quickie

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Corey Pein

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

The vice presidential debate is done and dusted. Kamala Harris made for a clear positive contrast in terms of knowledge and competence to Mike Pence.

Meanwhile, two of the largest union organizations in the United States say Donald Trump and the coronavirus have pushed many into forced labor. They’ve filed a complaint with the United Nations to that effect.

And lastly, the streets in Athens filled with joyful crowds after a Greek court ruled that the Golden Dawn party is a criminal organization. All you fascists are bound to lose.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Harris slams Trump record

Vice President Mike Pence and California Senator Kamala Harris faced each other – maybe a little too closely – last night in the only vice presidential debate of this election cycle. The venue was the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and the moderator was Susan Page, the Washington, DC bureau chief for USA Today. Ahead of the debate, health experts told the New York Times that the plexiglass barriers installed onstage between the candidates would do nothing to protect Harris if Pence is infected with coronavirus from the White House cluster. Oh well.

Donald Trump himself said yesterday that catching Covid-19 was like a blessing from god. Pence, his Number Two, did not go quite that far last night. But he defended the administration’s handling of the pandemic, against all the evidence, even as he disowned responsibility. He said QUOTE The American people deserve credit ENDQUOTE for how they’ve handled the crisis. Pence routinely spoke over his alloted time without interference from the moderator. He also appeared to some viewers to have one swollen eye.

Harris was clear from the outset in outlining Trump and Pence’s many failures. She said QUOTE The American people have had to sacrifice far too much because of the incompetence of the administration ENDQUOTE. Asked if she would take a vaccine promoted by the administration, Harris responded that she would take it if public health experts

suggested it, but not on the word of Donald Trump. And, on many other issues, she made the case that Joe Biden, in contrast to Trump, at least has a plan.

Unions decry forced labor

American trade union leaders yesterday filed a formal complaint with the International Labor Organization, a UN agency. The complaint says that under Donald Trump, the US has violated international labor standards. It also says that many essential workers have been pushed into a system of forced labor during the coronavirus pandemic.

The complaint was filed by the Service Employees International Union and the AFL-CIO at the Geneva, Switzerland headquarters of the ILO, according to the Washington Post. Richard Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO, told the Post QUOTE Covid has laid bare what we already knew. It has demonstrated that not only is the U.S. violating workers’ rights, but those violations are resulting in people dying ENDQUOTE.

The complaint singled out Trump’s orders declaring industries such as meatpacking essential, compelling them to stay open despite the pandemic even as federal agencies declined to enforce safety regulations. The complaint said QUOTE These executive orders gave a green light for employers to force workers to report for work and risk their lives or lose their jobs. This is tantamount to forced labor ENDQUOTE. The complaint also highlighted the racial implications of these orders, noting that the vast majority of meatpacking workers who contracted coronavirus were Black or Hispanic. The ILO has no enforcement powers, which is a shame, because it sure sounds like we’re backsliding toward slavery.

Greeks celebrate antifascist victory

In what the Guardian newspaper calls the biggest trial of fascists since the Nuremburg Tribunal following World War Two, a court in Greece has ruled that the Golden Dawn party is a criminal organization in disguise.

Following a five-year trial, a three-member tribunal in Athens found the far-right group guilty of operating a gang of hit squads. The court concluded that seven of Golden Dawn’s eighteen former members of parliament – including the party founder, Nikolaos Michaloliakos (MIK- HAIL-OLYAKOS) – led the criminal organization. Like many of his followers, Michaloliakos is a

Holocaust denier and admirer of Adolf Hitler. The remaining eleven former parliamentarians were found culpable as members of the gang. None have yet been sentenced. According to the Washington Post, the court also laid down specific guilty findings for attacks on immigrants and the murder of an anti-fascist rapper.

Thousands of Greeks outside the courthouse cheered the ruling yesterday. Greece’s president, Katerina Sakellaropoulou (SAH-KAY-LARO-PULO), said the judgment was an important day for democracy, and evidence that Greek institutions were able to fend off any attempt to undermine them. Experts in extremism say Golden Dawn at its peak was an inspiration to neo-Nazi movements around the world. But no more. As Alexis Tsipras (SIP- RASS), the leftist former Greek prime minister, put it – Golden Dawn will now go QUOTE where they deserve go, in the trash can of history ENDQUOTE. So long, chumps!

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

Following a surge in Covid-19 cases, Wisconsin health officials plan to open a field hospital next week at the state fairgrounds near Milwaukee. The Associated Press reports that only sixteen percent of the state’s eleven thousand-plus hospital beds were available as of Tuesday afternoon. Experts blame the spike in cases on school reopenings as well as general fatigue over wearing masks and socially distancing. Just mask up, already!

The House of Representatives subcommittee on antitrust released a scathing report on Big Tech this week, following a sixteen-month investigation into Silicon Valley’s business practices. Only Democratic lawmakers endorsed the more than four-hundred page report, which found multiple clear examples of anticompetitive behavior by Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. And the Democrats who led the investigation, including Jerrold Nadler of New York, are now saying those companies should be broken up, and new laws passed to prevent them from favoring their own products in search results. With luck, maybe next year.

BuzzFeed News reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a new policy allowing officers to arrest and rapidly deport undocumented immigrants who have been in the US for less than two years, without granting them a hearing before a judge. ICE’s previous policy only allowed officials to use expedited removal within one hundred miles of the border and for those who have been in the country for up to two weeks. Stay safe, everybody.

At least one federal investigation into serial sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein is ongoing. NBC News reports that federal prosecutors in the case of Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell have asked a judge to let them delay handing over evidence because of that ongoing investigation. Prosecutors believe disclosing the evidence could interfere with the investigation. And what is that evidence? Forty documents and forty photographs of victims who were allegedly abused by Epstein after 1997. Dossiers, perhaps?

That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report.

Oct 8, 2020 - AM Quickie

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Corey Pein

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

Donald Trump put the kibosh on Congressional efforts to boost the economy during the pandemic. The message to struggling American families and businesses is clear: no help is coming until Trump leaves the White House.

Meanwhile, the military’s top brass are in quarantine after being exposed to coronavirus. So is Trump adviser Stephen Miller, the architecht of many of his most cruel domestic policies.

And lastly, a huge crowd of protesters swarmed government buildings in Kyrgyzstan and began naming new public officials following a contested election. That’s one way to do it!

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Trump scuttles stimulus discussions

On the very day that the chairman of the Federal Reserve warned that the economy would suffer without further stimulus measures, Donald Trump announced that he was breaking off negotiations for another bailout bill.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the National Association for Business Economics, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said a rise in coronavirus cases this inter could further burden the economy. He said that too little government support for the economy would lead to a weak recovery, creating unnecessary hardship for households and businesses. Over time, household insolvencies and business bankruptcies would rise, harming the productive capacity of the economy and holding back wage growth. By contrast, Powell added, the risks of overdoing it with a stimulus package are smaller. He said QUOTE Even if policy actions ultimately prove to be greater than needed, they will not go to waste ENDQUOTE. In short, he was telling Congress and the White House to do something or things will get worse.

But Trump wasn’t having it. In a series of Tweets that sent the stock market into a nosedive, he said he’d instructed aides to stop negotiating for a stimulus with Democrats until after the election. He added that he wants Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to focus on getting his Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, confirmed.

Even by Trump standards it’s a truly baffling decision. He could easily approve another round of checks for taxpayers just in time for the election. Instead, he apparently wants voters to see that he’s doing nothing for the economy, despite tens of millions of Americans out of work. Maybe he’s still feeling punchy from the Covid treatments. Steroids can mess with your head!

Stephen Miller has COVID

The coronavirus cluster around Donald Trump continues to grow. Yesterday the military’s top leadership entered quarantine after the Coast Guard’s second-in-command tested positive for the coronavirus. According to the Washington Post, those quarantined include General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; General John Hyten, the vice chairman; Admiral Michael Gilday, the chief of naval operations; General James McConville, the Army chief of staff; General Charles Brown, the Air Force chief of staff; General John Raymond, the Space Force chief of staff; General Daniel Hokanson, the chief of the National Guard Bureau; and General Paul Nakasone, the head of U.S. Cyber Command. Last one out of the Pentagon please turn off the lights.

Attorney General Bill Barr was reportedly planning to limit his time at the Justice Department, after testing negative for the fifth time since Friday. Meanwhile, more White House aides tested positive – including Stephen Miller. And elected leaders in the Washington, DC region – including DC mayor Muriel Bowser – called on the White House to follow pandemic safety protocols. Ahead of tonight’s debate with Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris, Mike Pence’s physician released a memo saying he does not need to quarantine and is not a close contact with any individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19. Huh?

As late as last night, Pence and Harris continued to tangle over health and safety measures for their debate at the University of Utah tonight. At issue: a plexiglass divider between the candidates and the moderator. Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, said Harris is QUOTE more than welcome to surround herself with plexiglass if that makes her feel more comfortable. It’s not needed ENDQUOTE. As though anyone from the Trump administration can be trusted, especially on this issue. They are basically engaged in open biological warfare at this point. The debate starts at 9 p.m. Eastern time.

Protesters take over Kyrgyzstan

Protesters demanding a change in government stormed the White House yesterday – in the Central Asian Republic of Kyrgyzstan. That’s what they call the building that houses the executive and legislative branches of government in the capital city of Bishkek. The country held an election on Sunday, and the president’s allies won a majority of seats. But yesterday, as protests intensified, the country’s electoral commission nullified the results.

According to the New York Times, a small group of protesters tried to gain entry to the White House overnight. After the police tried to disperse them, hundreds more joined in the assault and soon took control. On Tuesday, the Times said, the streets of Bishkek were littered with burned out cars and piles of stones, while photos emerged of the broken down gates to the White House. Inside the building, videos and photos showed broken glass and piles of debris, including government papers, with protesters wandering the offices.

The president, Sooronbai Jeenbekov, said yesterday he was willing to meet with the leaders of all sixteen parties that had competed in the election. But, per the Times, it was not clear that he was still in control. Protesters continued to seize government buildings and appoint their own officials. Two big-city mayors announced their resignation, and Jeenbekov’s predecessor as president, as well as two former prime ministers, were freed from prison. The Health Ministry says one person was killed and nearly seven hundred injured during the protests. So it wasn’t a bloodless revolution, but it sure could’ve been worse.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

Facebook said yesterday that it is banning all Q-Anon accounts from its platforms. Per NBC News, a company spokesperson said the enforcement is in keeping with other steps the company has taken with regard to what it called militarized social movements, such as militia and terror groups that repeatedly call for violence. The ban won’t necessarily apply to individual posts and instead focuses on accounts dedicated to spreading the conspiracy theory. Better late than never.

A report published yesterday by the AFL-CIO shows that Latino workers, especially whose who are immigrants, continue to be at increased risk of dying on the job. Most of the Latino workers who die on the job work in construction, followed by motor vehicle operators, maintenance workers and agricultural workers. The union is calling on the Occupational

Safety and Health Administration to expand protections for temporary and contract workers and to implement national safety standards for Covid-19. ¡Vamos!

Australian government scientists took core samples from the ocean floor at six remote sites off the country’s southern coast. What they discovered is evidence that at least fourteen million tons of microplastics are sitting at the bottom of the world’s oceans – more than thirty times what scientists think is floating on top. The microplastic pollution is concerning because the plastics can return to our bodies through the food chain. Gross.

Guitar hero Eddie Van Halen, of the eponymous rock band Van Halen, died yesterday following a years-long fight with cancer. He was sixty five. As Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready put it, QUOTE Eddie was like Mozart for guitar ENDQUOTE. Shred in peace.

That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report.

Oct 7, 2020 - AM Quickie

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Corey Pein

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

Welcome back to Donald Trump CovidWatch. The president abruptly left Walter Reed Medical Center on Monday evening, announcing in a tweet that he was quote “feeling really good.” We’ll see how that goes for him!

Meanwhile, leaked documents show that Exxon Mobile is quietly planning to increase its carbon dioxide output by as much as the ​_entire output of the country of Greece_​ in the next few years, in flagrant disregard for the lives of, well, pretty much everyone who will be affected by global climate change.

And lastly, after the courts side with the Trump administration, Iowa invalidates 100,000 ballots, which could throw a major wrench into absentee voting in the state.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Trump Huffs and Puffs Out of Hospital

After just three nights in Walter Reed hospital, Trump is free -- headed back to the White House to most likely continue infecting anyone he comes in contact with.

On Monday afternoon, Trump fired off the following tweet announcing he would be leaving the hospital. Quote: “Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!”

Sure, that might have something to do with the insane cocktail of steroids and drugs he’s been injected with over the past three days, but it’s enough to get the big man out of the big house, despite the fact that he’s almost certainly still contagious and could very easily relapse.

In a press conference outside of Walter Reed, Trump’s medical team claimed that the president was doing fine, saying quote: “Over the past 24 hours, the president has continued to improve. He’s met or exceeded all standard hospital discharge criteria.” endquote.

Later, at the White House, Trump appeared to breath heavily after removing his mask while standing on a balcony to wave to cameras. Clearly doing great!

The President is still on anti-viral redemsivir [RE DEM SEE VEER] and the steroid he was taking to manage the disease, and three days doesn’t really seem like enough time to completely beat COVID-19, but sure, we’ll just have to take their word for it. Trump also claimed he’d be

participating in the October 15 Presidential debate, which is almost laughable, as the Biden campaign would probably want their guy in a hazmat suit to come within 100 feet of Trump at this point. But who knows! October 15th feels like a year away.

Meanwhile, the list of infected White House staffers continues to grow -- press secretary Kayeligh McEnany and two other aides tested positive on Monday. And according to the New York Times, the White House is not doing contact tracing.

But hey, at least their extremely contagious, completely remorseless boss is back in the office!

Exxon Creates New Greece (in CO2)

Leaked documents show that Exxon Mobile plans to increase its carbon dioxide output over the next few years by a truly staggering amount.

The documents, obtained by Bloomberg News, show that Mobile’s internal projections estimate that it’s CO2 output will jump at least 17 percent by 2025. Given how massive the company is, that increase is as large as the output of the entire nation of Greece.

As Bloomberg notes, this isn’t exactly hypocrisy from Exxon, which has never even bothered to pretend it was interested in changing its business model to something that wouldn’t destroy the entire planet.

What the documents show is that Exxon’s investment plan for the foreseeable future includes and readily accepts this massive uptick. Essentially, Exxon has decided to double down on its oil and natural gas investments, to the extent that it’s token green energy initiatives will be drowned in a flood of CO2.

And Bloomberg reports that the internal numbers don’t tell the full story: they only track the greenhouse gases released by the company’s direct operations. The company’s full impact, when you consider the eventual impact of all of the oil and gas they’re shipping and selling, is expected to be five times that number, for a total that equals the same output of an entire small nation.

Iowa Ballot Blooper

An absentee ballot blunder in Iowa could screw over as many as 100,000 voters in the state, the Intercept reports.

What happened is back in July, election officials in two Iowa counties sent out requested absentee ballots with the Voter ID number already filled in, as most voters don’t know theirs. The GOP promptly threw a fit, arguing that doing so violated a directive from the Iowa Secretary of State.

The end result is that the ballots were invalidated, but not before they’d already gone out to tens of thousands of voters across multiple counties. The GOP has been filing similar lawsuits across Iowa and the country as a whole, which creates a massive headache for voters. Many of them will have received an invalidated ballot, but the Intercept reports that their vote won’t count unless they start the process again and request a new ballot.

What this means, obviously, is that anyone from Iowa who isn’t up to date on this story or doesn’t pay super close attention to their mail has a good chance of being out of luck when it comes to mail-in voting come election time. If that sounds like you, check your ballot now. Democrats in the state are working to get in touch with affected voters in case their county’s communication’s don’t get through, which is burning a lot of campaign cash and work hours -- and there’s no guarantee they’ll be able to get to everyone.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

Chuck Schumer’s quest to slow down the GOP’s Supreme Court nomination is still going slowly, as GOP senators vow to vote in person to confirm Coney Barrett even if they’re infected with Coronavirus.

One thing getting lost in all of the White House coronavirus panic: some of the people most at risk aren’t the ghouls in the Trump administration, but the working staff who comprise the buildings’ valets, butlers, housekeepers, engineers and cooks.

After a strange website error last month, the CDC website now acknowledges that people can be infected with COVID-19 through airborne transmission. Glad to know things are working on a quick schedule over there!

And finally, one good piece of voting news: in Florida, where a landmark ballot measure restored the right to vote for as many as 1.4 million Felons two years ago, a massive voter registration drive is underway to find those voters and let them know their rights have been restored.

That’s all for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie today! Stay tuned for the full show with Sam this afternoon.

Oct 6, 2020 - AM Quickie

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Jack Crosbie

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

Donald Trump has coronavirus, and his prognosis is... well... nobody really knows, and the administration isn’t really talking. As of Sunday night, he was taking joy-rides in a motorcade for supporters outside of the hospital he’s supposed to be quarantined at.

Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell is pushing for an adjournment in the Senate to postpone the possibility of confirming Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court thanks to the wave of GOP Senators who have fallen ill. Can Democrats whip up the votes to stop him?

And lastly, a new investigation by HuffPost found that millions in Federal government loans went to major energy companies that had recently violated environmental rules.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Trump Takes Contagious Joyride

After months of denial, false information, and downplaying the seriousness of the crisis, Donald Trump has coronavirus. The president announced his diagnosis late on Thursday night, and has been hospitalized at Walter Reed over the weekend. His medical team and administration, however, have been less than forthcoming about what his actual condition is. Here’s what we know so far, in case you took the weekend to actually log off.

Trump was admitted to Walter Reed on Friday. According to his doctors, he had a high fever that day, and on two occasions over the weekend, his oxygen levels dropped enough that he required supplementary oxygen. Trump’s medical team on Sunday tried to play it off like he was fine, but the New York Times reports that the fluctuating oxygen levels and Trump’s treatment with a course of steroids suggest his case may be more severe than he’s letting on.

Earlier in the day on Sunday, Trump took a spin around Walter Reed in a motorcade, flaunting quarantine guidelines to have a little joy ride in front of his supporters. Sounds about right. He’s also posted the occasional video updating fans about his condition on Twitter, but we all know just how much his personal testimony is worth.

The timeline on when he knew he was sick is also completely unclear. On Sunday night, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump didn’t disclose a positive test he got back on Thursday morning, before he went on a Fox News appearance and while he was still performing normal duties in the White House. In other words, there’s no telling how many people he could have personally infected, but the cluster that probably got him sick is spreading around the administration and GOP higher ranks like crazy. That’s where we’re at as of late Sunday night -- Monday will surely have more updates and speculation. What a time to be alive.

Mitch McConnell Loses Votes to Corona

The coronavirus cluster sweeping through the top ranks of the GOP might have some pretty significant legislative consequences. Politico reports that Mitch McConnell is going to attempt to call a vote to adjourn the Senate until October 19, ostensibly to protect more Senators from getting infected. But McConnell also wants the Senate’s various committees to keep doing their jobs during this, meaning the Judiciary Committee’s hearings on Supreme Court Nominee Amy Coney Barrett could continue.

This is an obvious ploy to ram forward Coney Barret’s nomination at full speed while denying the rest of the Senate a chance to do much -- and, most importantly, preserving any more GOP Senators from getting too sick to vote her in. Already, two Republican members of the Judiciary Committee have the disease, Thom Tillis and MIke Lee, and another, Ted Cruz, is in quarantine after being exposed to the virus.

It’s worth noting that the potential exposure event for basically all of these guys was a relatively mask-less, close quarters ceremony at the White House last weekend when ACB was announced.

The question now becomes what the Democrats are going to do to stop this. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is pushing to stop the committees while the full Senate adjourns, which could help stall any vote on Barrett’s confirmation until after the election. With at least 3 GOP senators out with COVID and 3 more in quarantine, McConnell is going to have a hard time getting the votes to push anything through right now, which gives the Democrats some power for once.

It’s possible that if Schumer thinks he has the votes, that the Democrats could get a vote to adjourn until after the election, not until October 13. That wouldn’t necessarily block Barrett’s confirmation but would kick the can quite a ways down the road. We’ll see how this plays out on Monday morning.

Government Loans Went to Dirty Energy Companies

Meanwhile, outside of the COVID pit that is Washington DC, a new report from Huffington Post finds further injustice in the application of the Paycheck Protection Program loans doled out during the pandemic.

According to HuffPost, at least five companies who have collectively paid more than $52 million in penalties for violating clean air and other environmental regulations received a whole bunch of that money back from the federal PPP program. Between them, they secured $32 million in loans.

Chris Saeger, a spokesman for Washington-based watchdog Accountable dot US said quote:

“These companies have a clear history of violating public trust and the law by contaminating the environment in pursuit of profits. Our federal government should not be essentially giving back portions of the penalties they’ve paid, but that’s exactly what the Trump administration is doing through the PPP.”

The sector overall got enormous amounts of money. Huffpo reports that as many as 7,000 companies received anywhere from 3 to 7 billion dollars in PPP loans.

And remember, this is just the latest example of corruption and mismanagement within the PPP, which doled out millions to companies owned by members of congress and Trump donors. This puts the current bailout fight in new focus, as Trump and the GOP are generally trying to shift even more money from direct relief and bailouts to necessary services and into big corporate slush funds that they can funnel to their cronies.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

The previously frozen conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia escalated dramatically this weekend, as Azerbaijani forces shelled the major city of Stepankert and Armenian forces shelled the city of Ganja. The conflict is also a complicated proxy war between forces in the region, as Turkey openly supports Azerbaijan and Russia is generally aligned with Armenia, though it sells weapons to both sides.

New York City, the original hotspot of the U.S. coronavirus infection, is adopting new restrictions as a second wave sweeps through certain neighborhoods in the city, further complicating the city’s slow reopening plan. In the affected neighborhoods, public and private schools would shut down alongside all non-essential businesses.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been accused by his own staffers of offenses involving abuse of office, improper influence, bribery, and other criminal acts. Paxton is already under indictment on felony charges related to Securities fraud.

If you were wondering where Biden is during all this, his team said late Sunday night that he had again tested negative for coronavirus, after obviously being in contact with Trump during the debate last week. So that’s encouraging for now!

That’s all for the Majority Report’s AM quickie today! Stay tuned for more Presidential Health Watch updates on the Majority Report later today.

Oct 5, 2020 - AM Quickie

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Jack Crosbie

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

House Democrats are doing their level best to push a vote on a new 2.2 trillion dollar coronavirus stimulus bill, but are getting lowballed by the GOP and Trump administration, which claimed it had offered Democrats a $1.8 trillion bill that they then turned down.

Meanwhile, mail-in and early voting is off to a rocky start, thanks to GOP efforts to continue sabotaging it in Texas and beyond. There are some bright points, but this is going to be a rough ride.

And lastly, Amy Coney Barrett’s record on abortion may be even worse than we feared, as a new report shows she participated in a 2006 campaign that stated that Roe V Wade had to be overturned immediately.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Stimulus Bill Still Stalled

Once again, we have a partisan battle over aid to the American people still suffering from a world-altering pandemic. You’ve heard this one before, but here’s where we’re at now.

Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats are mobilized to vote on a $2.2 trillion dollar stimulus bill, which is pretty much the least they could be doing. Such a bill stands no chance of making it through the Senate without getting chopped up, of course, but at least it’s something. Republicans, however, don’t want anywhere near that number to go through, and are proposing tiny crumbs as opposed to the Democrats scraps. Remember, the HEROES act in May was $3.4 trillion and even that wasn’t nearly enough.

The president, however, ever a wildcard, offered Democrats a $1.8 trillion bill. The Washington Post reports that number was too big for some of the more fiscally insane Republicans in Congress, but what’re they gonna do, cross the president? And of course, it’s still a cool 400 billion lower than what the Democrats want.

Trump’s proposed bill, according to the Post, includes $300 billion for a new round of direct stimulus checks and another $300 billion for expanded unemployment at $400 per week. Still less than the $600 keeping people afloat, but better than nothing.

That bill also includes allowances for COVID testing, rental protections, and more. But in almost every category, it’s still undercutting what the Democrats want, which is something along the lines of new 1200 checks, 600 a week unemployment, and more than the paltry 250 billion for state-level relief that the GOP is offering. And while they haggle all this out, more and more Americans are getting pushed over their personal financial cliffs.

Texas Gov Locks Down Ballot Boxes

There’s good news and bad news about the beginning of early mail in voting. Let’s start with the good.

According to NBC news, the North Carolina Board of Elections says 300,000 people have voted by mail already, shattering records for the state. Many states are overcoming some early blips to get off to a roaring start with early voting and mail-in ballots.

However. There is bad news, and you probably know what’s coming. Republicans are doing everything they can to limit voting access, and the latest example is particularly egregious.

In Texas, Governor Greg Abbot issued a proclamation, as of today, closing ballot-drop off stations across the state and limiting them to one per county. That means in Texas, one of the biggest states in the country, each county will have only one ballot drop-off point. For reference, before the proclamation, some counties had as many as a dozen.

Abbot claims this is for quote “security” purposes, but the only thing it’s securing is Trump’s fading chances of winning the election. Texas is rapidly becoming a contestable state for Democrats, and Abbot knows it, as does the local Democratic party.

Gilberto Hinojosa, the chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, said quote:

“Republicans are on the verge of losing, so Governor Abbott is trying to adjust the rules last minute. Governor Abbott and Texas Republicans are scared. We are creating a movement that will beat them at the ballot box on Nov. 3, and there’s nothing these cheaters can do about it.”

ACB's Abortion Views Exposed

Amy Coney Barrett is clearly virulently anti abortion like several Supreme Court Justices, but until now, most of them have had the acumen to couch those opinions in conservative legalese. Barret, however, may be the first one to just say screw it and go all out.

That’s because a new report by NBC news shows that in 2006, Barrett participated in a two-page ad in the South Bend Times calling for Roe v. Wade to be overturned and ending the “barbaric legacy” of the decision. Doesn’t get more clear-cut than that! And this comes in the wake of Trump, at the debate with Biden, claiming quote “you don’t know her view on Roe v. Wade.” endquote. Well, looks like we do now.

What’s more, Barrett did not disclose this fact to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is currently doing its background digging on her before her confirmation hearings. The worst thing is that she’ll probably get away with it entirely -- all of the dirt in the world can’t stop the GOP if they have the votes.

Right now, it looks like Barrett’s unsavory optics have put off Mitch McConnell from calling for a vote before the election. But if Trump loses, you better believe the gloves are going to come off and they’ll make a lame duck push to get her on the court.

After all, Kavanaugh had multiple women accusing him of violent sexual assault and he’s currently sitting right on that bench. But when or if ACB gets there, it’s good to know what she is right off the bat.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

After the absolute mess of a debate on Tuesday, the Trump campaign is crying foul, accusing the Commission on Presidential Debates of bias and insisting that no rule changes be made to stop the President shouting over his opponent whenever he wants. In other words, more pain and suffering await any brave fools who decide to tune in to the next one.

Sound the klaxon: we’ve got an update on the dumbest men alive. The Michigan Attorney General charged right wing scammers Jacob Wohl and Jack Burman with four felony counts, including voter intimidation, stemming from their idiotic scam to set up a robocall to discourage urban voters from casting a ballot in the general election.

Several GOP Senators, Including Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Joni Ernst flipped sides and voted with Democrats in a procedural vote on the Trump-backed lawsuit against the affordable Care Act. What this means for the upcoming Supreme Court hearings that could decide the fate of the ACA lawsuit after election day, we’ll see.

Donald Trump tried one more mundane little attempt at voter manipulation: including a signed letter in food assistance boxes given out to needy families. Food banks, thankfully, are taking the letters out, as they clearly violate the Hatch Act and are just in incredibly poor taste regardless.

That’s it for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie Today! Stay tuned for the full show with Sam this afternoon.

Oct 2, 2020 - AM Quickie

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Jack Crosbie

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

A religious group linked to Amy Coney Barrett, the Supreme Court nominee, has been deleting records of her involvement. Is there something they don’t want people to know about her?

Meanwhile, the world reacts with horror at the first debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. And one of Trump’s beloved Proud Boys catches charges for, among other things, pointing a gun at a crowd of people.

And lastly, the United States government takes action against a Malaysian palm oil producer tied to slave labor. Awareness is growing about widespread abuses in the industry.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:SCOTUS nominee's records scrubbed

People of Praise, a far-right Christian sect tied to Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, has been caught deleting information about her from its website. An analysis by the Associated Press shows that People of Praise erased numerous records from its website during the summer of 2017 that referred to Barrett, as well as photos. At the time, Barrett was on Trump’s short list for the high court seat that eventually went to Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Last week, when Barrett again emerged as a front-runner for the court, more articles, blog posts and photos disappeared. And still more records were deleted after an AP reporter emailed the group’s spokesman yesterday. All issues of the organization’s magazine, Vine and Branches, were removed, including a 2006 story about Barrett’s parents that referred to her mother as a handmaid.

The AP reports that People of Praise’s belief system is rooted in charismatic Catholicism, a movement that grew out of the influence of Pentecostalism, which can include speaking in tongues. Founded in 1971, the group’s twenty two branches organize and meet outside the purview of the Roman Catholic Church. Former female members told AP that wives were expected to obey their husband’s wishes in all matters, including providing sex on demand. One of the women also said she was forbidden from getting birth control.

In her speech accepting Trump’s nomination on Saturday, Amy Barrett said she expected from the start that she and her husband would run their household together. One wonders if he gets a vote in other matters, as well.

Proud Boy catches charges

Members of the Proud Boys were celebrating yesterday after Trump name-checked them in Tuesday night’s presidential debate with Joe Biden. After refusing to condemn white supremacy, Trump called on the Proud Boys to QUOTE stand back and stand by ENDQUOTE. Yesterday Trump tried to walk back his comments, claiming he has no idea who the Proud Boys are. He said QUOTE Whoever they are, they need to stand down [and] let law enforcement do their work ENDQUOTE. Sorry – who’s doing whose work, now?

Biden also had words yesterday for Trump’s favorite violent street gangs. He said QUOTE My message to the Proud Boys and every other white supremacist group is cease and desist... This is not who we are as Americans ENDQUOTE.

In Portland, Oregon, the morning after Trump’s comments, police arrested a fifty-year-old Proud Boys associate named Alan James Swinney. He was photographed in late August pointing a handgun at a crowd of protesters. Swinney faces mutliple assault charges, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting, including pointing a firearm at another, unlawful use of a weapon and unlawful use of tear gas, stun gun or mace. Also in Portland, Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese sought to correct the record after Trump claimed to have won the support of Portland’s sheriff after months of non-stop protests. Reese said on Twitter QUOTE I have never supported Donald Trump and will never support him ENDQUOTE. Reese has also reportedly donated one thousand dollars to the Biden campaign.

Meanwhile, the international reaction to Tuesday’s debate was... well, it was not kind. China’s Global Times said the debate showed the world a divided and chaotic US. The French newspaper Le Monde said it revealed how four years of Trumpism have weakened one of the greatest democracies in the world. Kenyan commentator Patrick Gathara called the debate QUOTE a pitiful and tragic advertisement for US dysfunction ENDQUOTE. It was also quite unbearably long as advertisements go. At this rate we’ll be lucky to find a buyer at any price.

Palm oil shipments halted

Following a yearlong investigation, and coming a week after an AP investigation into widespread and shocking labor abuses in the industry, the US is blocking shipments of palm oil from a major producer in Malaysia.

The so-called withhold release order against FGV Holdings Berhad goes into effect immediately, according to the AP. Brenda Smith, executive assistant commissioner at the US Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Trade, called on importers to conduct their due diligence. Smith also said QUOTE We would also encourage U.S. consumers to ask questions about where their products come from ENDQUOTE.

FGV is one of the world’s largest palm oil companies and is closely connected to another company, Felda, which is owned by the Malaysian government. The AP’s investigation, which we covered here last week, found ample evidence of physical and sexual violence and forced child labor on palm oil plantations. Some of the labor abuses occurred on plantations operated by Felda. The tainted palm oil was traced to the supply chains of the planet’s most iconic food and cosmetics companies like Unilever, L’Oreal, Nestle and Procter and Gamble. Palm oil is found in roughly half the products on supermarket shelves, as demand has exploded over the past two decades. Read those labels, folks, and shop accordingly.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

The Vatican said yesterday it had denied a request from US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for an audience with Pope Francis. According to Reuters, Pompeo accused the Church this month of putting its moral authority at risk by renewing an agreement with China over the appointment of bishops. Note to Pompeo, the master diplomat: you’re supposed to catch flies with honey, not vinegar. Honey. And the same goes for popes.

US intelligence services considered poisoning or kidnapping Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange, according to a report in the Guardian. It seems the plans were never put into practice. The claims were entered into evidence in a London courtroom by a former employee of a Spanish security company, UC Global, who worked in the Ecuadorian embassy, where Assange had taken refuge. The court is considering whether to extradite Assange to the US.

The European Commission spent months auditing the rule of law in all twenty-seven member nations. Its report, just released, says democracy is suffering in several European countries, primarily Hungary and Poland. Concerns about corruption and judicial independence were also raised regarding Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Romania and Slovakia. This will go down... on their permanent... records...

The Los Angeles Times reports that California has become the first state in the country to adopt a law to develop proposals for reparations to the descendants of slaves. The law was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom yesterday. The task force it creates will examine slavery in California and the US, and the lasting consequences of discrimination against freed slaves and their descendants. Whatever recommendations for reparations the task force comes up with will also need to be approved by the legislature. Hey, it’s a start.

That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report.

Oct 1, 2020 - AM Quickie

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Corey Pein

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

Joe Biden faced Donald Trump last night in the first of three presidential debates. Trump tried to make it Wrestlemania, but Biden gave as good as he got.

Meanwhile, internal company documents show that Amazon has effectively covered up a major safety crisis at its warehouses. It got worse after they brought in robots.

And lastly, a group of scientists have presented evidence that they have a new technique to produce a compact nuclear fusion reactor. If it works, that could be great news on the climate change front.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Biden: "Shut up, man"

The presidential candidates faced off onstage for the first time last night at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. Hours before the debate, Joe Biden released his tax returns and called on Trump to do the same. For what it’s worth, via Reuters: Biden’s taxes showed that he and his wife Jill paid more than $346,000 in federal taxes and other payments for 2019 on an income of nearly $985,000_._ Trump, as is now widely known despite his refusal to share his tax returns, has paid next to nothing for most of the past decade.

Prior to the debate, Trump accused Biden of refusing to agree to an inspection for hidden earpieces. Biden countered by revealing Trump had demanded that the debate moderator refrain from mentioning the number of people in the US who have died from Covid-19. And all that was before the debate actually started. Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace was the moderator. He opened the debate with a question about the Supreme Court vacancy, which the candidates used as an opportunity to argue about the Affordable Care Act.

Trump, tacking left, pretended to be an enemy of Big Pharma and an apologist for Bernie Sanders. As expected, he played the bully toward both Biden and Wallace. Biden called Trump the wrong guy at the wrong time and, after one extended back-and-forth sniping session, said QUOTE will you shut up, man? ENDQUOTE. Because Wallace declined to offer fact-checking, Trump was allowed to lie with impunity. But Biden spoke at times directly to the audience, appealing to the head and heartstrings over grave matters such as the pandemic.

The next debate takes place on October 15.

In other campaign news, a new poll by the Washington Post and ABC News showed Biden leading Trump in Pennsylvania by fifty four to forty five percent among likely voters.

Amazon worker injuries growing

There is a growing safety crisis at Amazon. A new report by the website Reveal news, based on company records obtained by the Center for Investigative Reporting, sheds light on the problem. The documents consist of weekly data from 2016 through 2019 from more than one hundred and fifty Amazon warehouses. They show that the company has profoundly misled lawmakers and the public about its mounting injury crisis.

Amazon often points to the tens of millions of dollars it has invested to enhance safety practices. Yet Amazon’s injury rates have gone up each of the past four years. In 2019, Amazon fulfillment centers recorded fourteen thousand serious injuries. The overall rate of injuries was thirty three percent higher than in 2016 and nearly double the most recent industry standard, Reveal reports.

The data back up the accounts of Amazon workers who say the company has used the robots to ratchet up production quotas. Now humans can’t keep up without hurting themselves. Injury rates are significantly higher at Amazon’s robotic warehouses than at its traditional sites. The robots bring items so quickly that the productivity expectations for workers have more than doubled. Workers called pickers previously had to grab and scan about one hundred items an hour. At robotic fulfillment centers, they were expected to handle up to four hundred an hour.

And for years, injury rates have spiked during the weeks of Prime Day and Cyber Monday, contrary to Amazon’s public claims. Those two weeks had the highest rate of serious injuries for all of 2019. In May, Amazon chairman Jeff Bezos said QUOTE Nothing is more important than the health and well-being of our employees ENDQUOTE. Well, Jeff: prove it.

Fusion energy breakthrough reported

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say they are on track to develop a compact nuclear fusion reactor – which, if true, could be a major breakthrough in the fight against climate change. The New York Times reports that the MIT scientists, through

a spinoff company called Commonwealth Fusion Systems, expect to begin development of the reactor, called Sparc, next spring. They expect to finish construction in three or four years. If successful, they could build a power plant that uses fusion to generate electricity in the next decade.

A fusion reactor would work differently than existing nuclear fission reactors, and mimic the process whereby the sun produces energy. The MIT announcement was accompanied by the publication yesterday of seven peer-reviewed papers in The Journal of Plasma Physics, in which researchers laid out the evidence that the Sparc reactor would succeed and produce as much as ten times the energy it consumes.

The research QUOTE confirms that the design we’re working on is very likely to work ENDQUOTE, said Martin Greenwald, deputy director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center and one of the project’s lead scientists. According to Greenwald, Sparc takes advantage of a newer technology that uses so-called high temperature superconductors that can produce a much higher magnetic field. Commonwealth Fusion said it would announce a location for Sparc in a few months.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

A juror in the Breonna Taylor case claims that Kentucky’s Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron misrepresented the grand jury’s deliberations and may not have presented all of the evidence they needed to see. The unidentified juror also said, through an attorney, that the panel was never presented with the option to indict two of the three police officers involved in Taylor’s killing. Cameron has said he will release a recording of the grand jury proceedings today on a judge’s order, the Washington Post reports. Let’s hear it!

Amnesty International announced yesterday that government reprisals, including a freeze on its bank accounts, had forced the human rights group to abandon its work in India. Citing an incessant witch-hunt based on unfounded allegations, Amnesty India’s executive director, Avinash Kumar, said the government crackdown reeks of fear and repression. More than one hundred staff members will be laid off and the group’s work on such issues as police brutality will cease.

Military clashes broke out Sunday in Nagorno-Karabakh, a separatist region within Azerbaijan that has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces since 1994. Fighting continued yesterday, with each side blaming the other and each contradicting the other’s claims regarding casualties. Armenian officials claim Turkey has deployed fighter jets to aid Azerbaijan. A European Commission spokesman urged everyone to QUOTE do everything they can in order to prevent an all-out war from breaking out, because this is the last thing the region needs ENDQUOTE.

Italian scientists reported Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy that they have found a network of salty ponds beneath the south pole of Mars, alongside a large underground lake. The lake is estimated to be twelve to eighteen miles across and buried one mile beneath the surface. The salt content keeps the water from freezing, and has scientists excited about the possibility for finding microbial life there. They say future expeditions should target this area of Mars. Let’s see them aliens!

Sept 30, 2020 - AM Quickie

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Corey Pein

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

A new report shows that Donald Trump used Facebook for a massive voter deterrence operation in 2016, targeting up to 3.5 million black voters in swing states with negative ads about Hillary Clinton in an attempt to quote “cultivate hopelessness,” and suppress their votes.

Meanwhile, the Joe Biden campaign adds Cindy McCain, widow of late Republican John McCain, to its advisory board. Says about all you need to know about who they’re trying to persuade, doesn’t it?

And lastly, new evacuations were ordered on Monday in California’s wine country as two new wildfires set the northern part of the state ablaze.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Trump Used Facebook to Quash Black Votes in 2016

A report by Britain’s Channel Four News alleges that Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign used specifically targeted Facebook advertisements to dissuade up to 3.5 million black people in swing states from voting.

The report, which is based on a massive data leak of Trump campaign advertising data, shows that the campaign compiled files on 198 million American voters and then used an algorithm to sort them into categories based on their economic and domestic statuses and other data.

One of these categories was called “deterrence,” which effectively meant voters who could be persuaded to stay at home if hit with the right ads. 3.5 million of those voters were black, and many of them lived in swing states like Florida.

The Trump campaign then aggressively targeted those voters with negative ads about Hillary Clinton, relentlessly pointing to her admittedly terrible record on race and criminal justice in an effort to, in the words of Dr. Cornell West, quote “cultivate hopelessness” among black voters.

What’s more, then-campaign manager Brad Parscale testified under oath that the campaign did not target based specifically on race in its persuasion efforts.

The story here is not so much that the Trump campaign did something racist and disenfranchising to black people, as that has been part of the GOP playbook for years. It’s that Facebook gave them the very specific and powerful tools to do so, and they took full advantage of it while denying it to the public.

We know already that they’re going to try something similar in 2020, this time perhaps by leaning in to myths about voter fraud and conspiracies about vote by mail in order to cultivate that same hopelessness and confusion among people who just want to make a change.

Joe Biden Announces New Advisor

The Biden campaign added Cindy McCain, the widow of late Senator and presidential candidate John McCain to its advisory board on Monday, sending an extremely clear signal to the centrists and moderate Republicans that they are welcome in Biden’s Democratic party.

McCain had previously endorsed Biden, even going so far as to speak at the Democratic convention. Her husband, for the record, voted with Trump 83 percent of the time while in the Senate.

Just listen to what the campaign’s saying about it. Transition co-chair and former Sen. Ted Kaufman said that the campaign was drawn to quote “Mrs. McCain’s experience as a business woman, philanthropist, and longtime advocate for issues impacting women and children,” endquote. Great, we got a businesswoman and philanthropist on board. Never had one of those in the Democratic party before.

Look, the move isn’t exactly a surprise. Biden has made it clear for months that he thinks his best chance at winning and preserving the power of his wing of the party is to lean hard into the notion that center-independents and some Republicans will switch sides and vote for him.

What that means in practice, however, is that the left is going to have a doubly hard job at convincing the Biden administration to make any real progress while in office. Voting for him will stop some of the acute injustices that Trump has pushed for, but it’s not going to do very much to change the systemic issues that gave rise to the Donald.

Wildfires Break Out in CA Again

Two new wildfires have ignited northern California’s wine country, forcing new evacuations in a state that has already seen a devastating start to the long fire season.

The Zogg Fire in Shasta County and the Glass Fire in Napa and Sonoma Counties have already burned more than 26,000 acres according to the New York Times, and forced new evacuation orders for thousands of people who already suffered a devastating fire in the region three years ago.

The state overall has barely begun to recover from the fallout earlier this month, when the majority of the state was blanketed by smoke from dozens of massive fires. Thus far, the fire season across the west coast has left more than 25 people dead, 7,000 structures burned and scorched more than five million acres across three states.

It’s important to recognize exactly what’s making these disasters so bad: decades of corporate predation and runaway climate change.

And often it’s the most vulnerable who suffer: the latest fires consumed a small community of tiny homes built for formerly homeless people and those suffering from substance abuse disorders, while a nearby senior assisted living center was also forced to evacuate.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

The first presidential debate is tonight! At 9 pm Eastern, Trump and Biden will face off for the first time on stage, with the specter of Trump’s new tax scandal possibly giving Biden more ammunition to work with. Who are we kidding, he’s just going to yell that the whole thing is fake and hurl insults. Should be a real good time.

CDC Director Robert Redfield got caught blowing off some steam while on a flight from Atlanta to D.C. on Friday, and letting a colleague know what he really thinks of Trump’s taskforce member Dr. Scott Atlas. Redfield said quote "Everything he says is false,” endquote, which would make sense as Atlas is a neuroradiologist with no expertise in infectious diseases or epidemiology, but lots of experience going on Fox News.

Global coronavirus deaths passed one million, and so much of it is our government’s fault. Here’s Tom Inglesby, the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security: Quote: “This is a very serious global event, and a lot of people were going to get sick and many of them were going to die, but it did not need to be nearly this bad.”

A new study in the journal Nature Climate Change showing that human-caused global heating is making the world's oceans more "stable” -- which largely means that temperatures toward the surface stay warmer, creating fertile grounds for more mega storms that gain power over warm water.

That’s all for the majority report’s AM quickie today! Stay tuned for the show with Sam later and all our debate coverage.

Sept 29, 2020 - AM Quickie

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Jack Crosbie

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

The New York Times has Donald Trump’s tax returns, and you’ll never guess what they show. Oh, you guess that they show he’s barely paid any taxes through nefarious means? Well. You’re right. You guessed it.

Meanwhile, President Trump has officially nominated Seventh Circuit Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the GOP is full steam ahead to get her on the bench before he has the chance to get voted out of office.

And lastly, Portland Oregon weathers another contentious weekend, even as a far-right rally fizzled. Police continued to crack down hard on protesters, catching journalists and some bystanders in the crossfire.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Trump Pays No Taxes

Want to know how much Donald Trump paid in taxes in 2016? $750. He paid about that much in 2017 as well, taking full advantage of a broken system set up to help the rich get richer and greasing the wheels with some underhanded deals along the way.

The New York Times published a massive report on Sunday evening based on more than two decades of tax return data for President Trump and his companies. For 11 of the 18 years the Times examined, Trump paid nothing in federal income taxes.

He did this, in a large part, by reporting massive amounts of losses every year. Basically all of his signature businesses report losing huge amounts of money. By reporting gigantic losses, he’s been able to keep his tax burden extremely low -- which also helped him get a questionable $72.9 million ​_refund_​ from the government. That transaction is under audit by the IRS.

But he’s kept up the billionaire charade by writing off basically all his personal expenses, taking tax deductions on everything from $70,000 in TV hairstyling to aircraft and private residences.

The full report is absurd -- there are just so many ludicrously crooked details. The full picture it paints is of a man under a massive amount of debt staying afloat, and in luxury, through loopholes that exist just to protect the super rich. It remains to be seen if it will actually affect voters, but one thing is for sure: the system that enabled Trump isn’t anything new. It’s just that one of its worst abusers managed to get elected president.

ACB Nominated to Succeed RBG

President Donald Trump nominated Amy Coney Barett to the Supreme Court on Sunday, offering up the Seventh Circuit Judge as his pick to replace Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

We talked a little bit about Coney Barrett last week, so we’ll spare some of the details. Suffice to say, she’ll be gunning for Roe V Wade, Obamacare, and a whole host of other social and economic landmarks right after that.

A recent poll by the New York Times and Siena College showed that 56 percent of likely voters would prefer to have whoever wins the election nominate the next justice, but that probably isn’t what’s going to happen.

That’s because as expected, Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans have set up a lightning-fast timeline to get Coney Barrett confirmed, and they most likely have the votes to do it. What the Democrats can do to stop them is still up in the air, but activists are turning up the pressure on leadership to pull out all the stops.

Protesters gathered outside of Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer’s home on Saturday to urge the leading Democrat to publicly and vocally refuse to hold hearings to confirm a new justice, use every procedural block they can to gum up the works, and fully commit to ending the filibuster and packing the court the next time Democrats take back the Senate.

Hopefully, that’ll be this year. If it’s not, we may see a far grimmer country by the time the Democrats can take back the court again.

Portland Cops Plaster Protesters

Violence on the streets, much of it perpetrated by the police, rocked the city of Portland again this weekend, as rival demonstrations gave way to street protests that were brutally broken up by Portland authorities.

Police presence was aggressive over the weekend because of a large rally organized by the far-right Proud Boys group. But fortunately, a last minute location change for the rally kept it isolated from most counterprotests. Still, there were some skirmishes and assaults when Proud Boys attacked people they suspected of being antifa activists.

After the right wingers had gone home, though, the cops returned to their regularly scheduled crackdowns on protesters, arresting more than two dozen according to the Oregonian.

In one video captured online by journalist Sergio Olmos, police smashed a cyclist off his bike in the street and arrested him while he screamed that he was an UberEats delivery rider just trying to do his job.

In another instance, Portland police knocked 73-year-old photographer John Rudoff to the ground while aggressively arresting and striking protesters with their baton.

According to Gregory McKelvey, Rudoff’s friend and the vice Chair of the Oregon Democrats Black Caucus, Rudoff said quote: “I shot the Syrian Refugee Crisis, I shot Paris Protests, I shot Bangladesh, I shot Hong Kong, and it was Portland Police who beat the shit out of me.”

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

Clashes broke out on Sunday between Azerbaijan and Armenia, who have been in conflict over the breakaway province of Nagorno-Karabakh [NA GOR NO, KAR AH BACH] for years. Wire reports describe the recent fighting as much more severe than typical border skirmishes, with both sides reporting civilians dead or wounded.

ABC reports that Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Brad nwas taken into custody on Sunday night by Fort Lauderdale Police after allegedly threatening to harm himself and briefly barricading himself in his home.

Meanwhile, the Covid pandemic churns on. The World Health Organization warned on Friday that the global death toll from the virus could top two million if world governments don’t take collective action.

And finally, zoomers rejoice! A U.S. judge temporarily blocked Trump’s ban on the TikTok app just hours before it was scheduled to go into effect, ruling that TikTok could have a temporary injunction against the ban on downloading the app that was supposed to go through on Sunday night.

Sept 28, 2020 - AM Quickie

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Jack Crosbie

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn